Two lab leaders from CeNT promoted to university professors

27 04 2026

We are delighted to announce that at its meeting on April 22, 2026, the Senate of the University of Warsaw decided to appoint Dr. Piotr Setny (Head of the Biomolecular Modelling Group) and Dr. Mateusz Baca (Head of the Laboratory of Paleogenetics and Conservation Genetics) as university professors.

Piotr Setny is a theoretical and computational biophysicist. He develops and applies physical models to describe and simulate biological molecules in order to gain insight into the principles governing their structure, dynamics and function. He is particularly interested in the interaction between the molecules themselves and the aquatic environment in which they live. To this end, he studies the conformation-dependent free energies of protein hydration, investigates the role of nested water molecules and develops new theoretical approaches to describe the hydration of macromolecules. One of his new research topics is the behavior of polypeptides and proteins at the interface between aqueous solution and lipid membranes.

Mateusz Baca has been involved in research using fossil DNA analysis for over fifteen years. During this period, he has led four projects funded by the National Science Centre and participated in several other projects concerning the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of many mammal species, including humans. He is the co-author of over 50 scientific articles published in international journals, including Science Advances, PNAS, Quaternary Science Reviews and Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Since 2016, he has been conducting research at CeNT UW as part of the Laboratory of Palaeogenetics and Conservation Genetics led by Prof. Piotr Węgleński. Since February 2024 he has been the acting PI of this laboratory and in october 2025 he has been appointed the lab leader of the Laboratory of Palaeogenetics and Conservation Genetics.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations and wish them every success and many scientific achievements!